In the end, we have choices
by Ichihara Erioru
Summary: A short story that is an AU ending to the ME3 game or at least the start of one. In it a small change starts something new. The change? What if one ship answered Hackett's call to give Hammer the time they needed. Technically contains Spoilers for ME3 end


Disclaimer: Oh, time for this thing. Alright, I do not own anything that is referenced in this work of fanfiction that hence follows in this chapter or any other chapter, this includes the work's of Harry Potter and various Marvel works (and related materials such as the movie's that have been spawned by said works). It may include other items in vague or explicit terms that have been created by other copyright holders, though none of those exist in this chapter.

One other thing before this begins. This story, while partly mine, is actually the brainchild of Whitetigerwolf as he issued a challenge for this. His main challenge here was an Marvel Movies Crossover (Mainly Iron Man) with Harry Potter where, Harry Potter (or a version of him or in this case her) was raised by Ivan Vanko. For those interested, see this:

**Requirements:**

- Harry Potter is raised by Ivan Vanko (Whiplash)

- Ivan must teach Harry physics, mechanics, fighting

- Though Harry does not need to be a villain, he must still have inherited the Vanko hatred (or if you want to tone it down, distrust) of Starks

- Harry CANNOT be involved in a M/M pairing

**Recomended: **(Not all will be used if any beyond the obvious fem!Harry)

- FemHarry

- Wrong-Boy-Who-Lived **(Not Used)**

- Ivan foregoing his revenge to raise Harry (thus preventing much of Iron Man 2 events from happening) **(We'll see)**

- Harry joining the Avengers in his own Whiplash armor **(We'll see)**

- Squib Harry **(Not Used)**

- Harry attending Durmstrang or a Russian magical school

- Harry conversing in Russian with Black Widow

However, lets move on shall we? Tis is the story of a young girl who became something more.

**Edit: Minor Changes Made to chapter. Mainly date changed, sixth to seventh. I believe I miscounted.**

**Chapter One: That Feeling**

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><p>Serenity Ashley Potter was not dumb as her fat uncle so often called her. In fact, she was smart for a five year old. Her uncle often called her a freak and a troublemaker, that her parents had died because they were drunk and all of the sorts of general nastiness directed at her in some way. It was a daily thing, along with fixing breakfast and doing all the chores that Dudley, her cousin, did not want. Though truth be told, the amount of chores he did in a week amounted to maybe getting the mail once.<p>

She had learned that her uncle was right in a way about her being a freak, though she would never tell the man such a thing. There was always something odd happening around her though more often than not it was something tiny and inconsequential, such as a pencil on her desk spinning around and around as she grew bored with class.

Which brought her to her other bit of freakiness. She was far smarter than her classmates, she picked up the concepts taught in class within seconds of the teacher introducing them. Of course, she understood her uncle well enough to know that he did not want her to be smarter than his own son and that he could respond using violence as he had in the past. The one time she had brought a grade card home higher than her cousins, she had been literally tossed in her cupboard under the stairs and locked in for almost a whole day. She had scars from the belt to her back side from when she had broken a vase in the house and teeth marks from where he had his sister sic on her dogs on her. Had she been able to prove something to the police, she might have tried to get them involved.

Her uncle had been acting strangely though for the past few weeks, ever since he came home one day with the news that he would be traveling to a place called Norilsk, Siberia for work in August. His eye's had taken an odd gleam when he had looked at her that day and ever since then he'd been odd. He had been doing some of the chores she had done such as getting the mail or taking out the trash, while he'd had her Aunt pick up making some of the meals. He'd even force Dudley to do chores every once in a while. While she was grateful for the reprieve from chores, she couldn't help but think there was something off about the whole thing as she read her haggard copy of '_The Hobbit_' that she had stowed under her cot.

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><p>Vernon Dursley as he hauled the trash out the kitchen door, a chore that had normally gone to the girl and it wouldn't be long till he could enact his plan to get rid of her for good. The plan was relatively simple given what both he and Petunia knew of the freaks. His wife had known a bit about their culture from her sister and he was going to use that to get rid of the girl. The man, Albus Dumbledore, who had placed the child with his normal family was British.<p>

He was going to leave her in Siberia where she would have to fend for herself. There was no doubt in his mind that the collapse of the USSR would make it very hard for the old man to find the child even if he could legally go into Russia. Also there was the fact that tourists and business people did go missing from time to time in other countries. He'd use the trip from work as an excuse, take the girl with him and abandon her in the city at the end of the trip. On his way out he'd make up a sob story about losing her in Moscow or something, as he had to take the plane to and from the mine he was going to for Grunnings Drills.

The poor sods would be looking in the wrong place for her. Meanwhile, while he was on his trip, his wife and child would be moving to the fancy new house they had closer to downtown London while professional movers moved everything to the new house in a day or two. It would leave the old man very little to find them with if he didn't want to expose the magical world to everyone else, which his wife knew was forbidden. All in all, a decent plan. He was sure the girl would be able to survive and the final piece to enact his plan had arrived just this morning, the girl's American Passport. Thank god the girl's freak parents had been abroad when she had been born.[S1] All he had to do was pay for her tickets to get her there and he'd be free of her. Only a few more pounds and the girl would be out of his family's lives.

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><p>It was only eight days past her sixth birthday that Serenity Potters life changed. The day before, Wednesday August the seventh of the year 1996, Serenity had been woken up and handed a small suitcase to place some clothing in. Even emptying her single drawer of clothing into the case on filled it up half way. Her aunt handed her one of her cousins old used jackets and shoved her out the door, telling her to follow what her uncle told her. She'd do so, if only to avoid being smacked by the overweight man as it did hurt. So she followed her uncle, got into the car when told and was quiet the entire ride, though there was a sinking feeling beginning to appear in her gut as they drove along.<p>

About thirty minutes into the drive, the sinking feeling began to get worse as her uncle pulled the car onto an off ramp for the Heathrow International Airport. Now, Serenity wasn't any stranger to the fact that today was the day that her uncle was traveling out of the country and was smart enough to know what her presence meant. Her uncle meant to take her to Russia with him for some reason, though she couldn't guess why it was just her and not the whole family. There was the suspicion that it wasn't anything good though.

Sure enough, her uncle hauled the luggage out of the boot of the car and moved into the terminal of the airport. She followed closely behind the large man, in part not to get lost as school had told her not to get lost or go with strangers in public places, and also that her uncle created a small pocket of space in the crowded areas. They made it through the security at the airport relatively fast according to her uncle, though she wasn't sure why an hour was fast to the man and were boarding the airplane before she knew it.

Despite the bad feeling in her gut, she was having a good time due to the fact that she was getting to see a lot of things that she normally never saw in daily life. She was also amazed at the feats it took to get this far, flying in the air. It was too bad she wouldn't be able to see the cockpit or even the pilots. Soon enough, they were up in the sky and though she didn't have a window seat, she could look out the nearby window and see the clouds in the sky. There was a bit of longing, to fly in the sky as free as a bird. However, she was a younger child and as such she tired easy and fell asleep within an hour of the flight taking off.

A few hours later and the young girl slowly awoke to a change in the noise of the engines of the plane and the sound of a tone over the planes internal intercom. She made sure that she was buckled in like the flight attendant had shown her at the beginning of the flight and looked over towards her uncle. He was fast asleep, having fallen asleep himself at some point after she had. His buckle was still securely attached as the man had not removed it himself before he'd fallen asleep.

Her uncle did wake up as the plane touched down, jerked awake by a less than smooth landing but he didn't do much more than grumble as the plane taxied into the terminal of the airport. She followed him as he pulled his carryon bag from the overhead area and out onto the jetway that lead into the airport. He handled the passport control and customs for their entry into Russia with an ease that showed just how much he traveled and soon the two were out of the airport and their way out after stopping at one of the car rental services in the airport for transportation to their next destination[S2].

That destination turned out to be a rather nice hotel a short distance from the airport. Given that they had left the London area near eight o'clock in the morning it was already four in the afternoon in Moscow. Given that they would be traveling via plane for another four hours over another four time zones, they had to wait in order to continue on least they arrive at midnight in Norilsk. Vernon wasn't overly concerned with safety for the girl but he didn't want to arrive in the middle of the night in a place he had not visited before. There was also the fact that the connecting flight that the two needed to take was not due to leave until early the next morning. A fact that Vernon was going to take advantage of.

Oh, it wasn't that he was going to abandon the girl in Moscow, not yet at least. He'd check his options with Norilsk, the small city he needed to go to for his trip. This was due to the reason that while the city was large, it was also the capital of Russia and the police, even if they might be corrupt, would likely find the girl quickly and return her should he abandon her there. Instead he was going to leave her in the hotel room and go shopping for trinkets for his wife and son. He left the girl in the room, only with instructions not to open the door for anyone and not to do anything that would cost him money. For Serenity, it was a relatively novel experience being able to watch TV while her uncle was out and she made the most of the time watching the broadcasts. Over time, it seemed that the broadcasts started to switch to English for one reason or another but she didn't mind. However, it wasn't long before he uncle came back and took over the TV with a small grumble.

The next morning, Serenity found herself on a plane again. This one was smaller than the jet that had brought them over from England and was a bit more cramped. It was fun though and cemented her want to fly in the sky, maybe as a pilot or something when she was older. She managed to stay awake this time, though it was mostly due to her book that she had brought with her. Unlike the first airport there weren't very many planes around, in fact she could only see one other large plane. The process was also different, though she assumed it was because they were still technically in Russia. Instead of going through customs and the like, they only had to pick up their luggage from the baggage claim area.

Near the exit of the airport, a younger man, perhaps in his twenties stood waiting for Vernon or so she assumed. This was due to the fact that the man had a sign that had Dursley on it in large letters with Grunnings in a smaller font underneath that. The man was also wearing dress clothes or at least something close to them. In fact they were a lot like what the principle of her school had worn at the school. She followed her uncle as he walked over to the man and greeted him, smiling even as the young man responded in heavily accented English. Her uncle hated people with heavy accents, often going on at home about the butchering of the Queens English by those no good foreigners.

That man, whose name turned out to be Dimitri, took them to one of the few hotels in the city and got the two set up with a suite. He then informed her uncle that due to the lateness of their arrival, the meeting was set for the next day early in the morning to finalize the deal. Due to the arrangements, she did get her own room but wasn't tired at all, having only woke up about six hours before. Unlike the last hotel, her room did not have a Television to watch and she was stuck reading the books she brought with her till she dozed off close to midnight[S3] .

Like many younger children, once she fell asleep she slept for hours and hours. This was farther extended by the timing differences from crossing the eight time zones in less than two days. [S4] . Unlike her uncle, who had been getting ready for this trip as an experienced traveler might, did not suffer much from the jet lag. He in fact went to the meeting that was scheduled that morning and was able to finalize the deal rather quickly, having decades of experience from which to draw on. Which in turn left him open for the rest of the day, knowing that his return flight wouldn't leave till later that night.

He had of course, originally thought about abandoning the girl in Moscow but changed his mind after seeing the former soviet capital. There was to great of a chance that local law enforcement and the government would find her quickly. Instead, he was going to take her to the outskirts of the small city her and leave her in an alley or something with the threat of death or at least a very painful life if she turned herself in to the authorities. The little freak was smart enough to understand that anything he said was most likely to be trusted over her own word, given that he was an adult and she wasn't. Thus it was with a purpose that Vernon Dursley returned to the hotel and threw open the smaller room that the girl was using, pulling his half-asleep niece of the bed and out into the world.

It didn't take long for her to wake up though, having been awoken by similar means in her life on Privet Drive. Though she stumbled a bit, she managed to get her feet under her and look at her uncle who turned and gave her a look. That particular look was the one he used when he wanted everyone to be quiet and follow his directions. She thought it made him look like he was constipated personally. He pulled her along, out of the hotel and out into the city which while a bit warmer was still chilly. Her uncle only released her hand once they made it to the car that was on loan from Norilsk Nickel to get him around town after the meeting.

"Get in and keep quiet." He told her in a stern voice as he opened the door to the backseat.

Once she had had scrambled in he shut the door and got into the driver's seat, starting the older car with a grind. She stayed quiet as her uncle pulled the car out of the hotels parking lot, despite the feeling of dread that returned as he drove out of the core of the city and towards the outskirts.

Vernon on the other hand was getting frustrated, he had though the city would be bigger than it was. While it was several square kilometers in size, the shear lack of individual housing was getting to him. There were doubts appearing in his mind. It wouldn't take the police finding her here, just a good natured citizen in one of the buildings here. Not to mention that the mining corporation he'd just sealed a deal with was a major employer, they might try to help by putting out a bonus if she was found. No, Moscow was looking better and better, it had a seeder side that he could use if he dropped her in the right area. This of course, pissed him off a bit more. He'd have to waste even more time getting rid of the girl.

Serenity almost let out a sigh of relief as her uncle turned back into the city after traveling the outskirts of the city. She didn't comment on it but she knew he was looking for something and was getting frustrated because he couldn't find whatever he was looking for. There was a part of her that wanted to help her uncle but a more rational part told her not to, as he had told her to keep quiet. So it was without any farther event that she found herself back at the hotel and eventually on the plane back to Moscow. This time, her uncle went to sleep before the plane even took off and one of the stewardess who spoke English took her to meet the pilots, a rare treat but so was that fact that there were only a few other passengers on the flight.

She was so happy that she got to see the cockpit and see the pilots, who while busy, took the time to greet her in-between the pre-flight checks. It also cemented that she want to do something like piloting or baring that, make thing that would take her (and others) to the sky and beyond. Of course, she did not mention this to her uncle as he would be mad hey even let her near the cockpit. But it allowed her to push that feeling of dread away for a bit. It was her hope that they rest of the trip would past and things would return somewhat to normal. Still, there was that lingering feeling of dread.

It was a little after one in the morning when the two left the Moscow International Airport. Truth be told, Vernon normally wouldn't have left the airport but in order to complete his plan, he'd have to dump the child somewhere. Luckily, he still had the rental paid for by the company to use. It would be a bad thing if he had to hail a taxi or the like. He didn't pay any attention to the girl, besides to make sure that she was with him when he got in the car.

He drove away from the airport, jumping on the nearby motorway and headed into Moscow, ignoring the young girl who had fallen asleep due to the late night flight. Though he wasn't quite sure what he was looking for, he knew that several of the seeder sections of town would be a good place to drop the girl in order for her to disappear. He'd seen several such spots while doing some shopping in the tourist areas and headed into the center of the city. While several of the more famous areas such as the Red Square were decently crime free, the same could not be said for the neighboring areas. He'd even heard rumors before leaving of human traffickers and the like operating on the outskirts and interior of Moscow.

It was about thirty minutes later that Serenity was woke up due to her uncle hauling her out of the back seat of the car. Truth be told, it wasn't odd for her to wake up in such a way from time to time. There had been times when she had been hauled out of the cupboard under the stairs by her uncle when she had moved to slow in his mind or whenever he believed she had done something freakish. It happened on average once every couple of weeks. Therefore, she was able to get her feet under her rather quickly when her uncle yanked her out of the car in a rundown alleyway. Unfortunately her uncle wasn't the kindest man in the world to her and pushed her clear of him once she was out. This push while nothing to a full grown adult sent the young girl down toward the ground. Still she managed to get her hands under her, stopping a full impact on the ground but not without injury as her left wrist painfully announced.

Vernon was not content with the push and flipped the young girl around so she was looking upwards at the obese man. His face was not any odd colors but rather oddly calm as he told her what was happening.

"Now listen her girl. You will be staying here away from me and my family. We want nothing to do with you or your kind. As far as I'm concerned you're all freaks and should be put down. Come back and I'll take my sisters suggestion on what I've should have done when we found you."

Serenity paled, Vernon's sister was a dog breeder, one that still drowned runts of the litter. She had made clear her disgust about Serenity and had decide that she was a no good runt. While there was the chance the woman had been speaking metaphorically, there were times that she wasn't sure that she had been. The woman had sicced her dog on her at time to the point where she could barely walk for weeks.

She tried to ask why she being left her but all she got out was a 'But Uncle Vernon' before the man's meaty hand came around to slap her aside the head. For the six year old, her uncle slap had set her head ringing, so much so that she almost missed her uncle's last words to her.

"Quiet. You've been a pox on my family for years now. If I hear anything about you or from you girl. I'll make sure it's the last time. Stay away from us, stay away from Britain if you can, I don't want you near my family ever again." He told her, his words ringing with disgust. As a final punctuation to his statement he reared his fist back and let lose a straight punch to the girl. The fist impacted into the girls stomach driving her fully to the ground where her head hit the worn blacktop, knocking her out.

However, she wasn't the only one to hit the ground as seconds later a fist impacted the obese mans stomach from the side. The heavy man fell part way to the ground, looking over to the side as a pair of hazel eyes stared coolly at him from under brown hair.

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><p>Short AN for notations in Chapter, Not needed to understand the story but there for some people who might want to know. Mostly there for me (enter smiley face).<p>

[S1]Taken liberty, HP actually born in Wales, England in Godric's Hallow. This story, born in America.

[S2]Time zones London +0, Moscow +4, Norilsk +8, Hours plus GMT time.

[S3]Never traveled internationally, going on second hand comments and research.

[S4]Vernon more experienced traveler, able to combat it through different means.


End file.
